Red Cabbage

This Asian-style slaw uses a base of peanut butter, which adds a nutty sweetness redolent of pad Thai and satay. It also adds body to the dressing and a touch of delightful crunch. Ginger paste is available in the Asian or Indian section of many grocery stores. Or, you can make your own using a food processor: place one gingerroot in the processor and add just enough water to help keep everything moving. For those who prefer the old school technique, a mortar and pestle with a touch of elbow grease yields excellent results as well.

When I was growing up, coleslaw was pretty one-dimensional. It didn’t matter where you went, German deli, Greek diner, it was all pretty much the same: cold cabbage drowned in mayo with a few slivers of carrot for coloring and maybe a few celery seeds. These days, slaw has gotten an extreme makeover, and there are now more versions to choose from. This concoction is both warm and sweet and serves as a great base for salmon, chicken, tofu, or tempeh. Sautéing the onions, red cabbage, and carrots in a little brown rice vinegar, tamari, and ginger makes it easy to eat and mighty flavorful.

Tempeh is a soy-based meat substitute. Find it in the refrigerated section, near the tofu, in health food stores. Not into tempeh? Try this with chicken, turkey, pork, shrimp, fish, or whatever you fancy! In my opinion, low-sodium soy sauce tastes just as good as regular soy sauce. And feel free to substitute 3 tablespoons of a bottled teriyaki sauce for the soy/hoisin/peanut mixture. Almost any vegetable tastes stupendous teriyaki-style. Try this recipe with broccoli, cauliflower, kale, bell peppers, zucchini, or any other vegetable you happen to have available.

My husband declares this dish “insanely good,” and he’s right. While satay is traditionally broiled or grilled, this Glorious One-Pot Meal version retains all the flavor and skips the hassle of threading skewers, basting, and hovering over a grill. I sometimes use bouillon cubes to make stock just because they store well and allow you to make any amount you need. Look for low-sodium bouillon cubes in the health food store. Of course, you can use prepared vegetable or chicken broth instead. Make this recipe hot and spicy by adding a teaspoon of Asian chili sauce or minced hot pepper. Or make it vegetarian by substituting tofu for the chicken. (Be sure to weight the tofu and then blot it with paper towels to remove excess liquid.)

Frying fish in peanut oil (like using lard for fried chicken) gives catfish the crispiest, least greasy coating imaginable.

While there are twelve or thirteen sandwiches in this book that Tom calls “my absolute favorite,” this one truly is Sisha’s. We use the pork shoulder, a very flavorful cut that benefits from slow cooking—so slow, in fact, that we set the oven on the lowest setting and leave the pork cooking overnight, which breaks down the textures, develops the flavors, and renders a lot of the fat. For the amount of meat called for in this recipe, you can get the same great texture and flavor in about four hours. This recipe has its origin in pork barbecue, which is often served with coleslaw. The cabbage in our sandwich—a nod to that side of slaw—is seasoned with olive oil and red wine vinegar. It is assertive and acidic, balancing the richness of the pork, while the jalapeños add a nice kick. Peppers vary in intensity—sometimes two slices are more than plenty while sometimes eight won’t be enough—so be sure to taste-test yours before layering them on.

Hoisin is a sweet yet complex Chinese condiment that you can find in the Asian section of just about every supermarket these days. The hoisin-based barbecue sauce is especially delicious with rich salmon, but it would also be great on beef or turkey burgers. The pickled ginger and cabbage slaw, which contain quintessentially Asian ingredients such as garlic, rice wine vinegar, and toasted sesame oil, are an ideal way to add some fresh crunch to the burger.

Just mention the Carolinas and I immediately think of pulled pork sandwiches, dripping with barbecue sauce and topped with creamy coleslaw. Take the pulled pork out of the equation, add the rest to a burger, and you’ve got the Carolina Burger. It’s all about finding a great home for those sweet, vinegary, and spicy flavors that go so well with coleslaw.

Brimming with color and texture, this substantial side salad will keep for up to four days in the refrigerator.

We originally developed this recipe with homemade ramp kimchi. Then we tried it with the Red Cabbage Kimchi. You could substitute any other pickle of your choice. To make these spicy, crunchy snacks, first we puree the kimchi with tapioca flour to form a dough. We chose tapioca because it has a very bland flavor, allowing the taste of the added ingredients and seasonings to stand front and center. We rolled the dough into thin sheets and steamed it for fifteen minutes to gelatinize the starch. We then dehydrated the steamed dough in a low (180°F/80°C) oven, flipping it over every so often until the sheets of dough were dry and brittle. Using this method we needed the dough to dry out to a level of 4 percent moisture for optimum puffing to occur. Since we were unable to effectively evaluate the exact percentage of moisture, we decided that completely dry was the best way to maximize our results. Then we broke the dehydrated dough into pieces and fried them in 400°F (205°C) oil. The kimchi cracklings puffed beautifully, tripling in size and creating gorgeous, crispy pieces that resembled traditional cracklings or fried pork rinds. A quick sprinkling of salt and we were happily crunching away.

When we think of kimchi we tend to picture the classic kind found in Asian supermarkets, which is made primarily with Napa cabbage stained red from the chili powder and pungent with garlic. Interestingly, although that is indisputably the most popular variation, kimchi can be made with a wide array of vegetables and spices, with regional variations that affect the ingredients used and levels of heat and spice. Here we’ve used red cabbage for two reasons. The first is because we like its sweet flavor and slightly sturdy texture. The second, more practical, reason is that these fermented pickles are generally deemed ready when enough lactic acid is produced to change the pH from 6.5 to approximately 3.5. Red cabbage juice changes color at this pH and becomes a bright reddish-purple, giving you a visual cue when fermentation is complete. Kimchi is a surprisingly good condiment for grilled hot dogs. It is a great way to doctor up packaged ramen at home. In place of coleslaw on a sandwich, it can add an unexpected kick to anything from corned beef on rye to pulled pork on soft white bread. Its heat and tang are wonderful for cutting through rich ingredients, and as a substitute for sauerkraut in choucroute, it is utterly delicious.

This is one of my favorite winter Alsatian vegetable combinations, and a common winter vegetable dish of French Jews. It is best made a day in advance and left to meld the flavors. Serve as an accompaniment to roast goose, chicken, or duck.

This pickle turns a deep purple with the juice from the red cabbage. You can also use white cabbage and color the pickle with a few slices of raw or cooked beet.